liver coloured nose is often seen, and when in unison with the body markings of the dog is not objectionable. Eyes, pleasant in expression, dark in colour; pale lemon or "yellow gooseberry" coloured eyes are on the increase, and such are objectionable, ugly, and ought to be a severe handicap on the dog possessing them. They are certainly not a sign of amiability. The lips should be square, and very slightly pendulous, or rather, less tight than those of a terrier. Neck well placed and free from throatiness in any part of it. As in all dogs good sloping shoulders are desirable. Chest deep, powerful, and

ribs nicely sprung behind and carried so to the loins, which ought to be strong and muscular. Stifles well turned and powerful, and generally the muscular development in the hind quarters must be great, for the work a pointer has to do is arduous.

The fore legs and feet are important for a similar reason. The former strong, without being too massive and cumbersome; elbows fairly well let down, but not turned out, neither ought they to be turned inwards, for when the latter is the case the dog is likely to be flat ribbed and have his fore legs set too closely together, like many of the modern fox terriers. The legs ought to be well set on, and if carried too far back are objectionable, as a chickenbreasted appearance is given; and a dog so made

cannot gallop. As to the feet, the Pointer Club has adopted "Stonehenge's" description, with which I quite agree. This is as follows: This is as follows: "Breeders have long disputed the comparatively good qualities of the round cat-like foot, and the long one, resembling that of the hare. In the pointer my own opinion is in favour of the cat-foot, with the toes well arched and close together. This is the desideratum of the M.F.H., and I think stands work better than the hare-foot, in which the toes are not arched but still lie close together. In the setter the greater amount of hair to a certain extent condones the inherent weakness of the hare-foot; but in the pointer no such superiority can be claimed. The main point, however, is the closeness of the pads combined with thickness of the horny covering." So far as hare feet are concerned, an ordinary foot of this description would be severely handicapped by modern judges who persist in a hard close thick foot, which in reality is squarer and more angular than a round foot, but equally thick-even thicker.

Shape and symmetry are something in every animal, especially in short coated dogs. In colour, whether the pointer be liver or white or lemon or white, it makes little difference. Once the lemon and orange and whites were fashionable, now the liver and whites appear to be the more popular;

the paler lemon with a tendency towards whiteness is not good nor nice. Black and white pointers are handsome, and, possibly, were some breeders to introduce three or four perfect specimens on the show bench they might put the noses of the liver and whites out of joint. Liver and white heavily ticked is not a bad colour, but, as it nearly approaches whole colours, liver and black-because they are less easy to distinguish whilst being worked than the others—is not to be recommended, and in the ring ought to be handicapped accordingly. The best colours are liver and white, orange and white, lemon and white and black and white, having the precedence as written. I should allot the points of the pointer as follows:-

Perhaps I might be deemed guilty of a serious omission were I to overlook the fact that American and foreign admirers of the pointer have been more successful in producing good animals from stock

obtained from us, than has been the case with others similarly situated, who have sought to breed St. Bernards, Setters, Spaniels, and any other variety of dog in perfection; and more money has been spent on any of them than on the pointer.

South Carolina produced a Beaufort, whose excellence as a show dog has never been gainsaid, and for whom that good judge, Mr. C. H. Mason, of New York, paid a very large sum of money. Count de Beauffort sent from Belgium Master Dan, who beat our cracks at the Kennel Club Show in 1889; Mr. G. Raper had Naso of Strasburg from Germany, a dog that, when in his prime, must at any rate have been as good as the best; and other foreign bred pointers have on several occasions more than held their own at our usual field trial meetings. Nor does this short list by any means exhaust the names of the good dogs of the variety produced outside the British Isles.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SETTER.

THE setter has been called by his many admirers the handsomest of all varieties of our English sporting dogs, and whether he be rich red in colour, like the Irish strain; glossy black and tan, as the Gordon; or gaudily blue and white, or orange and white, as in the English race, there is no more beautiful dog seen in our fields or on the show bench. Other canine varieties are bigger, some, of course, are more diminutive; in temper he is excelled by none, and, so long as his kindly countenance is not disfigured by light yellow eyes and a heavy cumbrous dewlap, nothing in the way of live-stock can be handsomer than he. His intelligence and utility in the field and on the moor no one will gainsay; so there is little wonder that his popularity has gradually but surely increased during the past quarter of a century.

There was a time when the setter was unknown in this country by his present name, and this cannot